Report Finds Mining Activity and Bitcoin Exchange Development in North Korea

A report by South Korea’s state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) suggests that North Korea has been mining cryptocurrencies, according to local media. In addition, a technology firm in the country is developing an exchange platform for bitcoin, while average citizens of North Korea have little knowledge of cryptocurrency, the report claims.

Bitcoin Exchange Being Developed

A North Korean technology firm, named Chosun Expo, is developing and selling a market-exchange platform for bitcoin.

According to the KDB unit, it will take time for the cryptocurrency industry to expand in North Korea, due to the lack of a blockchain infrastructure, high-performance computers, electric power, and networks to carry the internet, South Korean media Speconomy conveyed. “The current situation in which only a few layers of the Internet can be connected will dampen the development of the virtual currency industry.”

In April, Koryo Tours, a travel company specializing in tourism to North Korea, announced “the creation and release of a new blockchain-based cryptocurrency exclusively for use in the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] tourism industry — the Koryo Coin.” The company also said that it was launching an initial coin offering (ICO) of this token.

North Korean Citizens Know Little of Crypto

The KDB report further asserts that average North Koreans “appear to have little knowledge of cryptocurrencies,” Yonhap noted. Citing “recent interviews with North Korean defectors,” the report claims that “all of them replied that they don’t know about cryptocurrencies in the North.”

In November last year, the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology gave a course on cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and blockchain technology. It was led by Federico Tenga, an Italian bitcoin entrepreneur. “The attendees of the lectures were a mix of computer science and finance students, but sometimes also some of the other professors of the university came to learn about the subject,” Tenga told NK News. The publication added that “according to Tenga, the students were aware of bitcoin but showed limited knowledge of the crypto-currency.”

What do you think of the KDB report finding mining activity and crypto exchange being developed in North Korea? Let us know in the comments section below.